The Baton Pass

Semi-Autonomous Agents have arrived. They do 80% of the work, but they need us for the last 20%. They draft the email but need you to hit send. They triage the tickets but need you to handle the edge cases.

The problem is, most tools handle this handoff terribly. They dump a half-finished mess on the user and say "Good luck."

We need to treat the Human-in-the-Loop as a first-class design object. The moment where AI says "your turn" is one of the most important moments in the entire experience.

The Anatomy of a Perfect Handoff

1. The Summoning (Getting the Human's Attention)

How does the agent ask for help? This is an interruption, and interruptions have costs. The urgency of the summons should match the urgency of the need.

• Low Urgency: A badge on a dashboard. "3 items need review." The user will get to it when they get to it.
• Medium Urgency: A push notification. "I drafted the response, but I need you to check the refund amount."
• High Urgency: A blocking modal. "I cannot proceed with this transaction until you approve it."

Design Principle: Appropriate Intrusion. Match the interruption to the stakes.

2. The Context Restoration (The Catch-Up)

When the human steps in, they're "cold." They don't know what the AI has been doing. You must warm them up instantly.

The Diff View: Don't just show the result. Show what changed. Highlight the changes in green.

The Reasoning Log: "I selected 'Urgent' because the customer used the word 'emergency' and mentioned a deadline."

The Context Summary: "This customer has been waiting 3 days. Their previous 2 tickets were about billing."

3. The Steering Mechanism (The Correction)

The human shouldn't have to redo the work from scratch. They should just have to nudge it.

Bad UI: The user deletes the AI's text and retypes the whole thing.

Good UI: The user highlights a sentence and says "Make this more formal." Or clicks a button: "Shorter." "More detail." "Different tone."

The Critique Interface: Give the user buttons to steer, not just a blank editor.

4. The Approval Ritual (The Sign-Off)

Make the moment of approval feel significant. The human is taking responsibility.

Bad UI: A tiny checkbox. "I approve." Buried at the bottom.

Good UI: A clear, prominent action. "Send this email as written." The consequences are stated. Confirmation before action.

5. The Learning Loop (The Aftermath)

When the human fixes the AI's mistake, that's data. Don't waste it.

The Save Correction Interaction: "Thanks for fixing that. Should I remember this for next time?"

The Feedback Prompt: "Was this draft helpful?" Quick thumbs up/down.

Design Principle: Every intervention should make the agent smarter.

The Mindset Shift

Automation is easy. You write rules. The machine follows them. Done.

Collaboration is hard. You design a dance. Sometimes the AI leads. Sometimes the human leads. Sometimes they step on each other's feet.

The best designers of the AI era will be choreographers. They'll design the steps, the transitions, the handoffs. They'll know when to let the AI run and when to bring the human in.

The handoff isn't an edge case. It's the main event.